The real history to the white lighter myth and why they are unlucky is based on four famous and revolutionary musicians of the second half of the 20th century. Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrex, Janis Joplin, and Kurt Cobain were all left-handed, all died at the age of 27, and all their autopsies reported that a white bic lighter was found in their pockets. This is why it is said that white lighters are unlucky. So if you are 27 and left-handed, don’t use a white bic lighter, you will die.

Time to expose the origins of this myth. Back in 1973, when the first Bic disposable lighter was introduced, it was only available in two colors. Black and White. Back then the entire lighter was one solid color, unlike today where no matter the color of the lighter, the bottom is white. So when using a black lighter to smoke pot, the ash from packing the bowl down would not be visible. Unlike the white lighter that would show "evidence of illicit drug use"(that's the excuse the cops would use to detain you). Nowadays all lighters have a white bottom piece, so no one color should be considered bad luck.

Now that being said...I still believe in the White Lighter Myth, simply because the only time I've ever possessed a white Bic lighter I had a string of bad luck. A friend had left a white lighter in my car, so used it to light a cig, not five minutes later I get rear-ended. To add insult to injury my bong was in the trunk and had been completely destroyed by the accident. Get home, grab my other car, drive to my friends house (the one that left the white lighter in my car) and I run out of gas (the gauge showed a full tank). I called my buddy to bring some gas, when he showed up i told him everything that had happened and blamed it all on his stupid lighter. He denied ownership of said white lighter.

The belief that using a white cigarette lighter to smoke marijuana will bring bad luck upon the user. This belief is so strong in some that they will refuse to even be present when a white lighter is used.

A superstition among the stoner culture that smoking marijuana with a white lighter (especially a Bic) is bad luck. This superstition persists to the point that many smokers will refuse to smoke until a non-white lighter is found. A possible reason is that many smokers will cover the bowl while inhaling to slow the burn rate or use the end of the lighter to pack the bowl. These both leave telltale burn/ash marks which would be most apparent with a white lighter.